Current events in the words of the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur

Month: October 2015

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.
Anjali Ghosh, EMBA 2015-18, Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur
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So hold your breath,They are watching you from Mars !!!
As confirmed by NASA researchers, liquid flowing water exists in Mars surface which supports the speculation about alien life in Mars. The Hollywood & Bollywood people must be overwhelmed with joy after hearing this news bite which they are depicting in Movies from time immemorial. Imager device of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA was instrumental in making this great discovery. John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate of NASA confirmed that “The existence of liquid water, even if it is super salty briny water, gives the possibility that if there’s life on Mars, that we have a way to describe how it might survive,”. When Methane was detected in the past in Mars atmosphere, then also the life at Mars possibility was triggered. Now with the great water in Mars discovery, the chances of microbes like organism living on these watery streaks are not a distance possibility. The water discovery also stimulates the man’s dream exploration to Mars soil in near future. Anyway, our old earth has become too crowded now!!!

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

The progress of a nation is directly proportional to the progress of science and technology. Any prosperous country has shown the path of development as their inclination towards industrialization, which can only transform it from the dark denizens. A developed society has its foundation on pluralism, tolerance, individual freedom and free flow of information. These are also the basis of a community that thrives on scientific development and democracy. A democracy allows an individual freedom of thought and expression and the freedom to dissent and criticize. A dogmatic and authoritarian society can not be the offshoot of democracy. However the recent murder of Mr. M. M. Kalburgi and some other progressives like Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare belies this fact about India as a democracy.
Kalburgi had issues with the right wings Hindutva Group for they accused him of committing blasphemy as he had passed some derogatory remarks about Basava, 12th century philosopher in his work “Marga 1”. Two unidentified gunman murdered this Vachana literature scholar on August 30, 2015 at his residence. Such an instance cannot be part of nation that claims to be the largest democracy. The superstitious and dogmatic beliefs that Kalburgi and other anti-superstation activist fought for can only be shunned away with adequate scientific awareness among people. It is the fact that our ancient culture gave this freedom to freely discuss and criticize otherwise such landmark contribution in the field of philosophy, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and so on could not have happened. We all know the names of Indian scientists like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskar, Sushrut and Charak are recognized globally for their scientific works. However there has been instance of the religious order attacking the scientific growth. For instance the church persecuted scientists like Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Halley, Darwin, Hubble, even Bertrand Russell.
There is no final word in science. It can question everything and can always give an alternative perspective to everything. Thus going by the values of science, India need to evolve a culture that can approach and appreciate questioning of every notion of age-old practices, traditions and religion.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

The chief minister of West Bengal Ms. Mamta Banerjee had declassified 64 files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bengal’s most iconic and reverend leader and one of India’s great freedom fighters. These files constitute 12744 pages that throw new light on his life and his role in the world politics. One such significant letter cited in the article of the newspaper “The Telegraph” (dated on 19th September 2015) is a letter from his wife Emilie Schenkl. Emilie a women from Vienna claims in a letter addressed to Mr Sarat Chandra Bose dated May 4, 1946 that she is a “widow of Subhash Chandra Bose”. This letter from Emilie was a testimony of her marriage to Bose because the marriage was not registered anywhere as in Germany it was forbidden to marry a foreigner then. The marriage was solemnized according to the Hindu rites. Emilie worked, as Bose’s secretary in 1934 when he was in Germany, writing a book “The Indian Struggles”. Bose married Emilie in January 1942 and their daughter Anita was born in 29th November 1942. In her letter to Sarat, there is an apparent reluctance to accept the fact of Subhas’ death on her part. However she had expressed her shock in the letter and the fact of Bose’s daughter’s birth was asserted. She was “employed as a clerk in the Trunk Office in Vienna and holds the position of interpreter in English and French”.

The survival of Emilie and her daughter Anita as a widow of Netaji in Germany is an example of many such women during and after the world war who lost their husband and father respectively and had to fight their battles all-alone. Emilie died in 1996 and their daughter Anita Bose Pfaff now 72 years old is based in Germany.

Another excerpt of a letter from the file no. 40, presented in the article, is of a certain Jagat Prasanna Gupta to a person called Debendra Nath Ghosh of Barisal complaining about Subhas’ comrades adopting unfair means in the Calcutta Municipality Corporation election. This unhealthy competitive spirit of a so-called great leader like Subhas had forced Gupta’s aunt to withdraw her candidature from the Municipality election in Calcutta. Not only unfair means were adopted by Subhas’ confidants but even Subhas publicity used such unfair means. Expressing his regret, Gupta writes, “It is unfortunate for us that we speak so highly of such a self-seeking gentleman”.

To concludes it is quite clear that the file declassified not only add to the resource of Bose’s works and philosophy but also throw some light to the opposite character of a great man.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

The last few days have been absolutely painful for an average Indian. The average Indian is hurting because of the average Indian. Curious? Yes. Let me cite the reasons –

The Dadri killing.

The unruly crowd at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.

The municipal elections at Bidhannagar, Kolkata.

In each of the above cases, the general public has been seen behaving in a disorderly and disrupting manner, without being amenable to discipline and control. The municipal elections can be marked as a special case where the public were paid handsomely to be rowdy.

At Dadri, a man was lynched by public, based on a dubious statement, spread by radicals. At Cuttack, the crowd went disrupting an international game of cricket, just because the home team played pathetically. If you look carefully, there is an emergence of a pattern. There is a growing rage in people, who are ready to act upon on anyone or anything that seems to be slightly out of order. Yes, my dear readers, we have become an intolerable nation.

This wasn’t the state of the nation few years back. We were supposed to be that country, which was eager in extending hand of support to nations in trouble. We were supposed to be calm and patient in a sub-continent where the neighbouring countries are either busy in civil wars or measuring their respective borders. We were supposed to be the guiding light in troubled times.

What changed? Is it the general apathy which has taken over on our mindsets?

Suddenly from being a calm nation, we have become the insensitive neighbours who pry on the misery of an earthquake devastated country. On the pretext of helping them, we boast ourselves being the big brother and meddle in their internal politics. Even on the cricket field, we see our cricketers hurling expletives at opposition players as a mode of expression. Really? With thousands of kids watching all over the world, what standard we tend to set for them? The growing apathy in the country is spreading like an epidemic. Soon, there will be chaos and anarchy shall follow it. Once anarchy sets in, we will be in trouble.

My dear countrymen, please don’t remain insensitive to these times. Our neighbours have done that and now they are paying the price.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

In Indore on Wednesday morning large part of traffic were halted in the city to create a green corridor for a liver transplant issue. In Madhya Pradesh it is the first case of this kind to create green corridors. Ambulance took only 8 minutes to cover 10.5 KM distance towards airport, which usually takes around 50 min in regular days. The liver which was bought from the hospital to airport was then transfer to Delhi via plane. Liver was transferred to Medanta hospital in Gurgaon, where patients was in need of the liver.

Background-
Khargone the 40-year-old Rameshwar from Khargone had been ill for some time and was hospitalized in Kede Choithram hospital in Indore. On Wednesday, after his death, the family decided to donate his liver. The Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon got receivers.
How Green Corridor was created-
> Liver can be kept safe just for six hours out of the body. Therefore, it was necessary to reach the receiver earliest.
> Medanta Hospital admin after discussions with the donor’s family talked to the local administration of Kede Choithram hospital.
> Commissioner Sanjay Dubey said police and local administration to make the Green Corridor.
> Ambulance left from Choithram Hospital in afternoon 12:02 minutes.
> Ambulances reached airport at 12:10. Flight left for Delhi at 12.20.
> To make Green corridor happen 60 army personnel were deployed on the way to airport.
Green Corridor was built on one of the busiest route of Indore. The route decided for green corridor was Choitram Hospital via Manikbgah, Palsikar crossing, Hemu colony, Mhow Naka, Gangwal, Bada Ganpti to Indore airport. Indore police and local administration made the Green Corridor happen.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

Some breaking news of the recent days :
• Former engineer Parha De preserving and living with his sister’s skeleton for six months.
• Indrani Mukherjea is arrested for the murder of Sheena Bora, who had been introduced to Mumbai society as the socialite’s “sister” but turned out to be the daughter.
• Bank manager Samaresh Sarkar throws four suitcases containing the body parts of his alleged lover and her five-year-old daughter into the Hooghly from a boat.

HORROR SELLS – the coverage of these violent crime stories in the recent newspapers proves the fact. All though common sense would suggest that the news of a mother killing her own daughter, a brother living with his sister’s skeleton would normally sicken people. But this is where common perceptions differ from mass reactions.
Don’t feel bad if you like following these crime stories. Through seeing/reading about such incidents we want to experience it without facing the consequences. We enjoy these stories for the same reasons we go to horror movies and roller coasters: to feel the thrill of fear. To get the adrenaline rush of a dangerous situation without the risk of actual danger.

Does this instinct of human beings make us all criminals? Certainly not. We live in a condition of secrecy: secret desires, secret appetites, secret hatreds. Every ordinary human beings has some dark impulses. But a criminal translates these dark impulses into dark actions.

Human beings, both in their cruelty and their ability to be fascinated by that cruelty, remain a puzzle.

“The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.”

Water is the most valuable natural resource and as we know that the availability of fresh water is limited.The rainfall is the prime source of water however the rainfall in India is highly uneven both in space and time.People living in acute shortage areas will increase more in near future.Also variation in this natural resource will lead to creations of water surplus and water deficient regions.

Need:

The precipitation patter in India is uneven and varies across the distance and over the month.The northeastern part of the country receives heavy precipitation in comparision to northwestern,western and sourthern parts.The lack of irrigation in large part of the country leads to crop failure and farmer suicide.Adequate irrigation for the populated India is a growing need for the river inter linking.

Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) Programme

Interlinking of River (ILR) programme is of national importance and the mission of this programme is to ensure greater equity in the distribution of water by enhancing the availability of water in drought prone and rainfed area.

Under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) prepared by Ministry of Water Resources, NWDA has already identified 14 links under Himalayan Rivers Component and 16 links under Peninsular Rivers Component for inter basin transfer of water.

Out of these, Feasibility Reports of 14 links under Peninsular Component and 2 links (Indian portion) under Himalayan Component have been prepared.

Benefits:

The inter- linking of rivers have the following benefits:

i) Flood and Drought control

ii) water for irrigation

iii)Increasing of water availability for Drinking purpose /Domestic use

iv) Mitigating the effects of drought and floods to a certain extent.

Conclusion:

The overall implementation of Interlinking of Rivers programme under National Perspective Plan would give benefits of 35 million hectares of irrigation, raising the ultimate irrigation potential from 140 million hectare to 175 million hectare and generation of 34000 megawatt of power, apart from the incidental benefits of flood control, navigation, water supply, fisheries, salinity and pollution control etc.Recently Andhra Pradesh took the historic step of interlinking its two major rivers Godavari and Krishna, a development that is being seen as a boon for farmers of Krishna delta mainly those in Krishna and Guntur districts, who have been facing acute shortage of water scarcity.The interlinking involves diversion of about 80 TMC of water from Godavari to Krishna via a canal.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published as well as unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility of anything that has been found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

Ashes Roy – EMBA – 2015-2018 – Vinod Gupta School of Management

The newsrooms across the world got busy when this news spread. A 14 year old kid was arrested at school on the charges of possessing a “bomb”. Disturbing? Yes, it is. It got more disturbing, when the actual facts surfaced. Apparently it was a strange looking alarm clock made of PCB and wires intertwined together, which made the school authorities suspicious. Going with the recent trend of Americans being suspicious on everything that looks out of ordinary, they arrested the “suspect”. Now comes the interesting part. The suspect’s name is Ahmed.

You can only imagine how paranoid the US administration must have been. Immediately world wide protests started on the “Islamophobia” being showcased by the Govt. As a mean of damage control, supports came in from unexpected quarters. The President of the US invited the kid to the White House. The famous Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.com also extended his support to him. Soon, we saw the Nasa t-shirt wearing , bespectacled kid smiling on live cameras, flashing ‘V’s. End of the story.

Wait.. It ain’t over. Soon, another section of the society vigorously started campaigning against this perceived idea of the US being racial. They claimed that even a white kid would have been kicked out of the school for bringing such a dangerous looking thing, citing numerous previous incidents. They even questioned the kid’s integrity by bringing up his father’s protests for human rights against religious minorities. In short, they lauded the police action and warned others to be ready for the consequences if such “terrorist” activities are not curbed.

My take on this???

Somewhere in the US, a budding engineer, an aspiring scientist or an ambitious geologist just dropped their career choices because of this incident. I mean isn’t it better to curtail your imagination rather to be tagged as a minority that can cause harm to a great, supreme race who arrest a 14 year old kid,on the pretext of national security? Now many Ahmeds will think twice before starting any innovation which can help mankind. Well done, the land of the braves !! You just killed innocence.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

Many of our gang of girls in their college days were infatuated with a dark boy from Beckbagan who was winning Tennis competitions in National & International circuit then. After lapping a corporate job and reaching the wrong side of thirty most of us lost the zeal to run for win which this boy is still doing and that also with winning Glory. That boy is none other than Leander Adrian Paes. For him, 42 just seem to be a number. Let us hear it from the Horse’s mouth itself- “The hard work one’s put in, the years that one’s persevered. The respect I have for my coaches and teachers, who have helped me, and who continue to take time away from their families to help my career. That pride of performance is for all these reasons. I continue to be a student of the game, of life.”

Men’s doubles (8 titles)

1999 French Open with Mahesh Bhupathi (India)

1999 Wimbledon with Bhupathi

2001 French Open with Bhupathi

2006 US Open with Martin Damm (Czech Republic)

2009 French Open with Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic)

2009 US Open with Dlouhy

2012 Australian Open with Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)

2013 US Open with Stepanek

2. Mixed doubles (9 titles)

1999 Wimbledon with Lisa Raymond (USA)

2003 Australian Open with Martina Navratilova (USA)

2003 Wimbledon with Navratilova

2008 US Open with Cara Black (Zimbabwe)

2010 Australian Open with Cara

2010 Wimbledon with Cara

2015 Australian Open with Martina Hingis (Switzerland)

2015 Wimbledon with Hingis

2015 US Open with Hingis

Other significant success

He won a bronze medal for India in singles in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He competed in consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2012, making him the first Indian and only tennis player to compete at six Olympic Games.

He is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances and is a former team captain.

May his age defying glory continues to shine which started three decades ago.

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

Shashank Manohar is appointed as new BCCI President. He will replace Jagmohan Dalmia who died last month. He was elected or this post in BCCI’s special general meeting in Mumbai. This is the second time Mr. Manohar has become president of BCCI. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. In 1996 he became president Vidarbha Cricket Association.

A BCCI by-election needs only one proposer from the zone which is electing the president and Manohar got proposed from all the six associations. Manohar’s name was additionally proposed by Sourav Ganguly from Bengal, Sourav Dasgupta from Tripura, Gautam Roy from Assam, Ashirbad Behera of Odisha and Sanjay Singh of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA).

His appointment also means that N Srinivasan now has little chance of coming back into the BCCI fold till 2017 when the Shashank Manohar’s tenure ends.According to Sourav Ganguly the upcoming president of Bengal Cricket Association and CA supremo Ajay Shirke Manohar is the best suitable person for this post. According to Mr. Shirke all six East Zone units have proposed Mr. Manohar’s name. New President comes with lot of experience and integrity.
Newly-elected president Shashank Manohar vowed to clean the image of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after being chosen on Sunday to head the world’s richest cricket board for a second time.

While Interaction with media Mr. Manohar said, his first priority is to clean the image of the sport. According to him young faces in administration is always better as the new generation have new ideas while the older generation has fixed notions and they work accordingly. Development can take place only when new generation comes in.